Stray Thoughts
by Azelle Vespian
Summary: One shot ficlet. Kagome muses over things as she tries to fall back to sleep one night and her thoughts stray to Inuyasha among other things.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Inuyasha, nor am I earning any money from this story.

Author's notes: This is just a weird little introspective Kagome has while trying to sleep one night, that I thought would be interesting to some extent. As this is my first fan fic in a good long while, and a first for this fandom all together, I kept it simple. Not necessarily the most original story either, but I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing in general.

I hope neither of the characters seem too OOC, but there's always the possibility. This is based upon the anime since I've never had a chance to read the manga, which I hope to remedy shortly.

And yes, the title is in reference to stray dogs, and I feel it is appropriate since it echoes the topic of Kagome's thoughts as they wander beyond her control.

Update 8/24/05 - I will most likely be doing Inuyasha's version of events and either be posting it as an entirely separate story or expanding this from a one-shot to a two-chapter fic.

_Italicized words_ - thoughts

Stray Thoughts

by Azelle

Kagome sighed fitfully and turned herself over trying to make herself more comfortable. Even though she'd been traveling through the wilderness of the Sengoku Jidai for more than two-and-a-half months now, lying with nothing but a sleeping bag to cushion her body from the hard ground was something she would never enjoy. The long but shallow cut on her back didn't help matters either. The skin around the wound felt hot and tight, even with the poultice they had applied along with the bandage, and it made lying on her back nigh impossible.

She sighed and faced that, inevitably, it was going to be a long night - or morning as it were - after glancing at the small travel alarm clock in her backpack. It was nearly four, which, as far as she was concerned, was far too early to be awake.

At any rate, sleeping further didn't seem to be an option no matter how exhausted she still felt, so she allowed her mind to wander.

It had been a long day and they hadn't needed to press Inuyasha to let them camp for the night. It had seemed that even the hanyou wanted a chance to take a break for the evening after traveling as far as they had and then having a two hour fight, in which most everyone walked away with at least a bruise or two, Kagome's injury being the worst. He had quickly scouted out a site far from the smoldering remains of the giant lizard youkai that they had just killed in order to keep them from potentially being attacked by the scavenging creatures that would come to finish off the carcass. The smell of blood and scorched flesh had hung heavily in the air, and they had needed to move quickly. There was no telling what manner of beasts lurked nearby.

The fight itself had been incredibly taxing. After sensing a shard near a village, they set out to get it a few hours before nightfall. Unfortunately, the towering youkai was fairly resilient to their advances and they had to lure it away from the human settlement before Inuyasha could truly use Tessaiga's full power. That alone had been a task.

After what had seemed like forever to the group, they had forced the shard-enhanced beast roughly a mile away into an open field. The youkai had been getting damaged by Hiraikotsu, slashed by Kirara, and charred by Kagome's purifying arrows and Miroku's ofuda repeatedly, but it healed almost immediately, easily recovering from each hit. Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu finally ripped apart it when the group's other attacks failed to bring it down, but not before the beast got in one last flick of its whip-like tail and caught Kagome squarely on her back.

Her flesh had felt like it was on fire as she was knocked down breathless. The skin had split from right shoulder to the center of her upper back, blood weeping down in a slow manner that might have tickled had she not been in such pain.

In the end, the only things the enraged Inuyasha had left of the lizard was ghastly piles of smoking chunks of flesh and gore littered across the gouged clearing along with the bits of plants and trees that had been demolished during Tessaiga's devastating blast of channeled youki.

Although Kaze no Kizu wasn't the strongest of Inuyasha's attacks, Kagome was certainly glad that she would never be on the receiving end of it. Despite the mass destruction of the youkai and the surrounding area, it, as well Bakuryuuha, certainly did come in handy when they had to face down creatures that had become too powerful after using the Shikon shards. Once the battles were over, her having to walk through a spread of blood, entrails, torsos, and severed limbs to retrieve shards was unappealing, but a necessary task that had to get done before the youkai had a chance to repair itself. Then again, at least it was slightly less disturbing for her to do that than direct Inuyasha where to go and watch him thrust his hand into a youkai's skull - or some other body part - and pull it out with a shard in his fist, gouts of blood and tattered flesh dripping from his claws.

Kagome shuddered. Inuyasha might be her close friend, and possibly something more, but it made her queasy to see him do such things.

To attack with Tessaiga, despite the equally gruesome outcome, seemed more… humane. She still couldn't stand watching him use his claws to clean and prepare an animal for cooking, let alone watch him hunt, so how was supposed to take seeing him impale what used to be, in some cases, a sentient being with his bare hands? It wasn't the creature dying that necessarily upset her since it was usually in a kill or be killed situation, but more along the lines of how he went about it finishing the task.

When Inuyasha didn't use the sword, he relied on his natural weapons and it only enhanced the fact that he wasn't quite human; something she normally overlooked in a naive sort of way. The fact that he wasn't human didn't make her think or feel less of him, by any means, but she couldn't squelch the tiny voice in her head that whispered that he was somewhat wild, almost feral at times. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. His instincts and abilities had saved all of them more times than she could count.

Restless, Kagome flipped onto her back, and, with a grimace of pain and stifling the gasp that tried to escape her throat as white-hot sparks flared beneath the heated skin, quickly thought better of it. She slowly rolled onto her uninjured side instead and the pain dimmed significantly. When it lessened enough for her to move again, she pillowed her left arm under her head, staring up at Inuyasha as he lightly dozed amidst the branches of the tree next to her.

His uncharacteristic, peacefully slackened face and slightly opened mouth made it hard to believe that he could be dangerous. His head was angled slightly downwards, silver-white bangs falling over his eyelids and above them, erect ears moved occasionally, picking up the noises around them or flicking in irritation when a bug flew too near. He almost looked innocent, harmless even - if one didn't notice the fangs peeking from between his parted lips and the hands, for once exposed from the voluminous sleeves of his gi, resting on his lap, tipped with deadly claws. Even the toes of the feet dangling from the branch were tipped with short, thick, sharp nails that seemed less imposing that those of his hands, but just as wicked if need be.

_I've never really even noticed those before_, she thought with a start, but her mouth quickly worked its way into a smile as a leg and one of his arms twitched a few times while Inuyasha continued to shallowly slumber.

"Let sleeping dogs lie," she mused to herself, not realizing that she'd spoken aloud until both of Inuyasha's ears whipped in her direction and paused. She froze, muscles tensing, and stared at him wide-eyed until the white radar resumed monitoring the night, apparently dismissing her as a non-threat.

Thankfully, other than that, he didn't stir or react to her accidentally uttered comment. She knew how much he hated being compared to a dog, no matter how innocent the reference and she had no desire to have him wake angry with her for bringing up a subject that he was very touchy about. It would have been a rude awakening for him, to be sure, but also for the others once the yelling began. The day would have been ruined before it even had a chance to start.

But to be perfectly honest, it was sometimes hard not to see the resemblance when he pinned his ears back, bared his fangs, and growled. Or when he squatted on his haunches, arms stiff and palms flat on the ground, down between his feet. Or when he followed a scent trail with his nose practically in the dirt. Or, for that matter, when he did a full-bodied shake to dry himself off after getting wet. Or, even, on the rare occasion, when she caught him scratching himself behind an ear with a foot. Or when he…

_Come to think of it_, she blinked rapidly in acknowledgment, _he does have quite a large number of dog-like traits. A surprisingly large number._

A bizarre thought suddenly wormed its way into Kagome's musing that unnerved her somewhat. Besides the immense power, intelligence, and the ability to take on a fairly human form, what was the difference between a regular dog and a youkai one? Or any of the animal-based youkai and their natural counterpart, for that matter? How much of what they did was based off of instinct? Granted, they were mystical beings and as such were not common animals, but how far removed were they? Could they even be considered animals since they were, in fact, not quite mortal when compared to the rest of the creatures found in nature?

Since most of the large numbers of youkai they came across were bestial, Kagome had concluded that sentient ones were fairly uncommon. Even those who wore a rather human appearance, like Sesshoumaru, were only masking their true forms which were usually some sort of animal. Sesshoumaru didn't act like a mindless beast, even when his guise was dropped, but he certainly wasn't human.

_So, does that mean a relationship between a youkai and a human is bestiality?_

Kagome blanched as the thought came unbidden to her, and her stomach roiled unpleasantly. She couldn't believe that it had even crossed her mind. Not only was it incredibly unappealing, it was unnerving and, in her eyes, immensely demeaning to think such a thing. Inuyasha wasn't a mixture of beast and man, despite his sometimes-feral tendencies. First and foremost he was a person. To say that he was part animal seemed more crude and uneducated than saying all youkai were evil or all humans were worthless. It wasn't right, no matter what the popular opinion.

Of course youkai weren't beasts, even if their true forms were that of supernatural animals… and the elements, of course, since they had come across a number of those as well. At any rate, they certainly weren't beasts. But then, what were they? Spirits didn't fit and monster was closer, but that seemed only slightly less unappealing than animal with its negative and evil connotation. Perhaps demon? No, demon didn't sound much better than monster, but the word did seem to fit slightly better. Maybe she should have listened to Jii-chan more closely to have a better definition, since he was a self-proclaimed expert on the subject, but by this time, after dealing with actual youkai herself, she didn't think she'd ever come up with an accurate description if she hadn't formulated one already.

Whatever they were, they seemed set apart from the rest of the natural world. And not all of them functioned on instinct alone, so there had to be tiers in the levels of sentience and complexity as one ascended the separate species of youkai. To her, this meant that youkai like Sesshoumaru and Shippou were the equivalents of humans when compared to the baser animals, whether they were mortal or not. But of course, youkai weren't immortal either. They could die from serious wounds, and maybe even extreme old age, but she wasn't sure about the latter.

Kagome shifted and continued to openly observe Inuyasha sleep as her thoughts rambled.

From what she had heard about Inuyasha's mother and father, they seemed to have loved each other. She wondered how they had met and how his father had courted his mother. Had he made advances on her as a human would have, or had he approached her as an inu youkai would a potential mate - was there a difference? Was he still with Sesshoumaru's mother, or had she passed on and he was seeking out a new love? Average dogs didn't hold loyalty to one mate, so would a youkai be any different? Kagome's knowledge of youkai courtship and mating was practically nonexistent, but she couldn't help but wonder about the subject.

Based upon the few times she'd run across a youkai wooing a human, she noticed the resulting relationships were never long lasting if the feelings were at all mutual. Even if they did get together, one partner or the other, or possibly both, usually wound up being killed for it. There was so much hate built up on both sides that violence and death were a real issue when it came to a mixed couple, and not in the melodramatic sense that many from her time found romantic. Star-crossed lovers only sounded appealing when real lives weren't at stake.

Unfortunately, the only thing that either side seemed agree upon was the resounding disgust when a child resulted from a crossing of the species. Kagome wasn't sure if that word would apply, but species seemed appropriate. Or maybe it was race? Whatever the terminology, she knew for a fact that hanyou were despised, that much she'd seen with her own eyes. Half-breeds seemed to be hated before they were even out of the womb. Of course, that brought her to wonder about how many hanyou were born but never made it to maturity for one reason or another. They hadn't run across many in their travels, so did that mean that they had been killed or died by other means? Or was conceiving a child between a human and a youkai uncommon due to the apparent… species barrier?

Maybe it was like trying to breed a rat with a mouse; they looked fairly similar on the outside, but it simply couldn't be done. Obviously, that analogy didn't work since Inuyasha, Jinenji, Shiori, Izumo and a few others she knew of existed, showing that it could indeed happen. In that case, perhaps youkai and humans were more similar in ways than she had previously thought. Or maybe, instead of genetics, or perhaps combined with it, there was a type of magic involved that allowed the production of offspring despite how different the species seemed. That had to be it. The chromosomes most likely didn't have parallels, but unless youkai sperm - since it seemed that only male youkai ever managed to breed successfully with human females on a somewhat regular basis - was mystically potent somehow, the DNA had to be compatible to humans.

That brought up the question of quarter-youkai and possible further dilutions to the youkai blood. Since hanyou were apparent rarities for the sheer reason of their own conceptions - if based upon genetic compatibility - would they be able to have children of their own, or would they be like mules: born sterile?

And there she was, comparing youkai and hanyou to animals again. It made her feel beyond ashamed with herself with how deeply she was thinking about how it was possible for a creature like Inuyasha to exist.

_Creature!' He's not a creature! He's a person! Stop thinking these things! What's come over me?_ A horrified shiver rippled down her spine causing her back to twinge in pain. _Since I keep thinking about it, does that mean some part of me believes that to be true? But - but, I don't! He's not and I know it's not true! He's a person, like me. He has feelings and emotions just like I do, and -_

Kagome's thoughts cut off abruptly and she further panicked as her attention was drawn back to Inuyasha when she saw one of the legs that hung from the branch twitch again and a soft grunt reached her ears. From the still swinging leg, her eyes slowly traveled up his slouched form, unconsciously taking in his rough, innately masculine beauty, and finally rested upon his face. Afraid she'd started talking aloud again and had awakened him, she was happy to find him still asleep. Kagome's thoughts might have betrayed her, but at least her big mouth hadn't. She breathed in deeply and let it out as a quiet sigh.

She tried to let her disturbing thoughts fall away as she assured herself that his heritage wasn't important and didn't matter to her. Whatever the reasons and ways nature allowed hanyou to exist, she was thankful for them. The fact that Inuyasha was a hanyou really didn't mean anything beyond it being a label. Sure, it made his appearance incredibly exotic in an appealing way… but he was also attractive beyond just the physical sense and that was far more important.

He had survived a nightmarish childhood and adolescence for just being what he was, and still, he didn't completely hate the world. Granted, he wasn't particularly the nicest person to be around most of the time and was pessimistic, but at least he tried… sometimes. Kagome knew his gruff exterior was only there to protect himself from a world that saw him as undesirable and a mistake. It was the only way he could have lived as long as he had. And even though he looked only about seventeen, she didn't really know how old he actually was, so she assumed that he probably had a lot more happen to him than one would think upon first glance. She doubted she would have survived had it been her who had gone through the things been forced to suffer. He wouldn't be the man she knew and cared for had those most likely horrible experiences not occurred, but all the same, she wished he hadn't gone through them.

What's more, he seemed to have softened a bit as the months wore on, showing that he could be kind and loving as well as fierce, and that gave her hope. He was an inspiration to her in a way. Inuyasha single-handedly proved that a person could overcome unbelievable trials and not waste away to anger and despair when things got too hard to handle. He had, and still did, love Kikyou, which proved that his heart had not hardened to an irreversible degree.

_Kikyou._

Kagome felt the inevitable pang inside her chest.

Kikyou had claimed a large spot in his heart, enabling him to heal a bit from his past experiences with life, and that helped soothe some of Kagome's remorse, even as she wished it were herself that he cared for so devotedly. Despite all that the tragically short-lived couple had been through – it had only lasted a couple of months at most, and they never got… physical as far as she knew - he still loved Kikyou. What's more - and what most people couldn't seem to understand as to how she could be so devoted - Kagome couldn't help but want him to be happy, even if it was with someone else.

No matter what happened in the future between them, Kikyou's initial love and its lasting effects would be the stepping stone that could allow eventually Kagome into his heart, should he ever let her to get near it. She had accepted that fact what felt like a long ago time ago, but it still stung more than she cared to admit. The way he always chased after Kikyou but still lead her – Kagome - on in an unintentional and innocent way never failed to make her stomach feel like it had plummeted fifty feet. Even thinking about the weird, quasi-love triangle that was playing out between them was making her feel slightly ill.

_Just let it go. There's no point in thinking about that depressing subject, either._

Kagome wasn't a jealous person by nature, but she was human. Taking a deep breath and sighing it out, she let the growing feeling of resentment dissipate before it had a chance to latch onto her, but a lingering trace of sadness remained.

A bittersweet smile lifted her lips as she watched his ears swivel almost backward when a bird began its morning song. They - his ears - were one of the first things she had noticed about him apart from his lovely sliver-white hair and innocent, boyish face… and the fact that he had been pinned to a gigantic time-spanning tree by a magic, sealing arrow, of course. That wasn't a common thing to stumble upon, either, she conceded.

Anyway, despite how much he hated them for being an obvious sign of him being a half-breed and who knows what other reasons, she loved his ears. When she had finally seen them as more than simply being adorable, moving wedges of warm flesh and soft white fur, she realized that they were as almost expressive as his eyes, face, and words. They were an integral part of him, and for him to dislike her… appreciation of them, she thought he was doing himself a disservice. They were nothing to be ashamed of, really.

Then again, she could understand why he became indignant and angry when people examined them extensively or attempted to touch them in any way, as well. He wasn't a curiosity or pet to be ogled, fondled, or stroked. It was really unfortunate, since she _really_ wanted to play with them at times, so she had to settle for being able to tweak them when he didn't listen to her and just pushed her temper too far, like a naughty puppy.

_Oh no, not that again. He's a person. _

But really, she flicked Souta's ears sometimes when he got on her nerves, too, so maybe ear abuse was trans-species, or trans-race, since she still couldn't decide which of the two words was more appropriate. If she did it regardless of background, then it was fair game. Of course, that made her sound as if she had a weird ear fetish, so she let the subject drop, deciding that all teenage – well, approaching teenage and teenage-looking - boys needed a good punishment every now and then no matter how it was delivered.

That's all Inuyasha was, really. A big kid. At least, he certainly acted like one at times with how petty he could be, but then he'd go and do something so selfless on his own accord that it amazed her, since for the longest time, she practically had to force the hanyou to help others. He'd changed so much for the better in such a short period of time. It was astounding. He never gave himself enough credit. Inuyasha was always doubting his self-worth and denying that he cared about anyone other than himself, but she knew that wasn't true. His actions spoke far louder than his words, which was an impressive feat considering how loud he could get.

_No, I don't think of him as bestial at all. As cheesy as it sounds – and, boy, does it ever sound cheesy - he's a beautiful person both inside and out, despite his refusal to show it most of the time. He's more like a chestnut: all prickly on the outside with a hard under-shell, but worth the effort it takes to reach the wonderful inside. But I doubt he'd like that comparison much more than the dog one..._

For all of Inuyasha's faults and decidedly crude manners, he was someone she cared for very deeply, even when it didn't seem that her affections would ever be returned in the way she wanted. He was loyal to a fault, honorable, protected their ragtag group even at risk losing of his own life, and at times… at times he seemed to enjoy being in her company.

Sometimes it seemed that he kept her around for more than her just being his shard detector. Sure, they occasionally held hands or hugged, definite signs that he did feelings for her on some level, but she knew he couldn't devote himself to her and her alone. He had prior obligations, and she wasn't sure if he could ever let go of his first love. But, really, what kept her going was that there was always that off-chance that something might come of it all. Maybe - just maybe - once things were settled with Naraku and Kikyou…

"Oi," Inuyasha's mildly irritated voice broke her contemplation, low enough in volume that it didn't wake their companions but loud enough for her to hear. "What are you staring at, wench?"

Startled, Kagome's eyes flew to his face as she sat up, noticing his cocked eyebrow and slightly down-turned mouth. She dropped her head, her cheeks beginning to heat as she felt guilt mounting at her train of earlier thoughts. The admiration of his masculine beauty didn't help matters, either.

_Although, thinking that he is gorgeous is far better than thinking him as an animal_, Kagome bitterly thought as she toyed with the sleeping bag's zipper, unable to face him. But as the tense silence continued, she hastened to appear like nothing was wrong. _People seem guiltier if they avert their eyes, so look at him._ _Just do it, girl! Look at him!_

Garnering her courage, Kagome turned her gaze back to his and refrained from allowing herself to turn away. The waning firelight caught Inuyasha's eyes and his dilated pupils reflected back an eerie, ghostly-pale sheen that seemed to completely drown out the gold surrounding them, reminding her of Buyo when he prowled through the darkened house, in and out of moonlight.

In a fit of nervousness as her previous comparisons skittered like vermin through her mind, she rubbed her upper arms, faintly shivering. She'd seen his and Shippou's eyes do that countless of times before, and it was something she was used to, almost to the point of going unnoticed these days… so why did it strike her as unnatural now? It didn't unnerve her anymore, per se, but still, it did seem odd when the eyes belonged to a human face.

_Stop thinking about it! Just let those thoughts go. He. Is. A. Person._

He froze for a few seconds at her movements, that odd, white-green shine tracing her figure, flickering in and out of existence as his eyes moved along her form, examining her, and she caught a trace of something that looked like concern flash across his features.

"You okay?" he asked.

Inuyasha sat there intently watching her and she felt as if she would melt into the ground out of sheer embarrassment. He seemed to grow more irritated as she frantically tried to gather the lingering idle thoughts and banish them from her mind. With him awake, the guilt hit her even harder. She felt terrible. He wasn't some sort of science experiment to be dissected and analyzed. If he knew what she had been thinking about…

"Well?" he prompted in an angry huff.

_Say something, baka!_ her mind yelled at her.

"N-no!" she floundered, pausing to worry her lower lip with her teeth. "I'm fine. Really! I couldn't sleep, so I was just laying here… thinking -- not staring. I - I wasn't really looking at you," at his obvious skepticism to her lie, she hastened to continue, "it's more like I happened to be looking in your _direction_, that's all."

_Brilliant, just brilliant_, she silently applauded herself as the hanyou scowled. _Stupid girl. If he was suspicious before, you've just confirmed it. You're a terrible liar and you know he caught you in the act! Just hope that he doesn't call you on it because there's no way you'll be able to get out of this one without a fight._

Kagome forced herself to look him in the eyes hoping to convey sincerity and cover any traces of the guilt that she felt at her traitorous thoughts. How could she have ever considered thinking of him as anything less than what he really was – which was a good person -- no matter how fleeting? It wasn't the sum of his parts that made him who he was, despite role they played. Why had she even been thinking about that at all? She'd never really thought of those things before, so why now? Maybe it was because of that biology test she was studying for… She cast an angry glance toward her bag where the science textbook lay partway underneath her socks.

Inuyasha, who she noticed had followed her line of sight, scowled in the bag's direction as well before quirking an eyebrow - for the second time in as many minutes - and looking back at her. He then drew his knees up to his chest and rose to the balls of his feet, hands coming up to rest on his thighs. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"

To Kagome's surprise, and somewhat to her horror, Inuyasha hopped down and landed in a crouch next to her. She gasped when he then leaned in even closer, examining her face, and stopping only when he was close enough that she could practically feel his breath on her cheeks. She felt like he was trying to smell the deceit and anxiety that had to be rolling off of her skin in waves, but that was a ridiculous thought - wasn't it? Whatever the case, his sudden intrusion of her personal space induced an almost stifling sensation that wasn't as pleasant in the current moment as it could have been under different circumstances.

Mindful of his claws, he reached out and touched the skin above her right cheekbone, gently pulling the skin downward with his thumb, exposing more of her eye. She began to edge away and he gripped the back of her head with his other hand to still her retreat.

_What is he doing?_ She noted the rise in her panic and tried to calm her heart as it thundered in her chest. _Can he tell what I've been thinking?_

She chided herself for her stupidity. Of course he couldn't read her thoughts. He thankfully didn't have that ability and she didn't want to even imagine what he'd do with that power if he could.

_But_, her heart paused its frantic racing for a split second, and that alone nearly earned a startled gasp from her, _he can probably sense my nervousness. _And that was just as telling that she had done something wrong. His odd behavior on top of how close he was wasn't soothing her in the least.

Inuyasha's inspection continued for a few more agonizing moments. All the while, he looked her directly in the eyes, and she found the intense, prolonged, inhumanly golden gaze to be somewhat intimidating at such close proximity. The cat-like slits of his pupils, even though he was now much closer to the dim light of the fire, still remained fairly dilated, making them seem almost round.

_More human_, Kagome noted absently, and then wished her brain would simply shut up. It and its stupid thoughts had already gotten her into enough of a mess as far as she was concerned. The least it could do was silence itself.

Seemingly oblivious to Kagome's discomfort, Inuyasha laid his examining hand's palm against the flushed skin of her forehead and sniffed at her nightshirt's collar before apparently coming to a conclusion and releasing her.

"Lay down and roll over."

Only her frantic pulse pounding through her ears broke the silence Kagome heard next. Her thoughts slammed to a halt as confusion washed over her. Why did he want her to do that? Did he think she was sick? She was warmer than usual, but she figured that was only due to her embarrassment. But, then again, her back did ache. Maybe he could smell an infection starting in her wound…

_Maybe he _can_ read my thoughts and decided it'd be a fitting command_, she thought glumly. '_Watch as I make Kagome do stupid human tricks. Roll over, girl! Play dead!' _

Whatever his reason, at least he hadn't brought up the topic of why he'd caught her looking at him, and her pathetic excuse, at being caught. He normally would have loved to goad her about until she relented. She felt somewhat relieved and hoped her sliver of luck would continue to last.

When Kagome didn't comply, Inuyasha leaned forward again and gently pushed her by her good shoulder to the ground but made sure the injured portion of her back never came in contact with anything. He then rolled her onto her stomach, his touch lingering a bit longer than necessary, but suddenly, Kagome honestly couldn't say that she minded. He was being so careful with her… almost tender, even.

"Inuyasha--" she began hesitantly, not wanting to end the moment. She wanted to at least say something, even if she couldn't really think of what. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she couldn't decide which, the hanyou broke in before she could continue, effectively killing the giddy mushiness of her thoughts concerning whatever had just occurred between them.

"Baka. Go to sleep." He pulled her sleeping bag's flap up to her lower back and then he backed away. "You're eyes are bloodshot and have dark-circles under 'em. Not to mention you're wounded and you need to heal, so lay down already."

He stood up and waited, arms crossed.

"Go to sleep, " he commanded again after a minute had passed and she didn't respond, his voice never raising above the soft but gruff tone he'd been using.

"But, Inuyasha, it's almost dawn. We'll be leaving soon," Kagome protested.

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed, going to tend the fire to ready it for the meal that would come when the others awakened, and the small blaze's pleasant, renewed heat soothed her. "You said you couldn't sleep earlier, so do it now."

Inuyasha looked up at the sky and leisurely stretched his arms above his head, the action producing an incredibly loud, grotesque popping sound which amazed Kagome in that it didn't wake her still sleeping companions. It sounded as if he'd dislocated something, but that was highly unlikely. He made some of the most disturbing sounds she'd ever heard by simply cracking his knuckles, which he did all the time. She secretly believed he did it just to annoy her, and the grimace of sympathised pain that had settled on her face left quickly as he brought his gaze back to hers and gasped when she caught his smirk.

_That jerk does it on purpose! I _knew_ it!_

"The sun won't be up for about another hour, and since I still gotta catch something for us to eat, you can sleep until I get back and Sango makes breakfast." He made sure that his ever-ready scowl was in place to compensate for what he probably thought was too much obvious concern for her wellbeing. "But after that, you gotta get your lazy ass up."

Kagome simply stared at him unsure of what to make of things. He was going to let her sleep in? That was nearly unheard of! "But you never--"

"Go to sleep, bitch," Inuyasha ground out, obviously losing his patience. "I don't want you getting sick again. You're hurt and need to rest. You know I don't like it when you get sick, cause it makes me--" His eyes widened marginally at his almost confession and he quickly amended himself: "_We_ need you to be healthy so you don't slow us down looking for shards. Losing a couple of hours today is better than you wasting a week at home sick because you can't take care of yourself…"

She heard him trail off weakly muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "weak humans." Kagome couldn't be sure, but then again, she didn't care. She knew it was just another one of the verbal defense mechanisms that he used when he thought things were getting too personal. Perversely, she took it as a good sign, and the mushy, happy feeling that she enjoyed started to seep back into her. He really did care about her, despite his hesitation to show it. It was moments like these - apart from her near mortification just minutes earlier at her mind's rambling speculations on youkai, humans, mating, and hanyou - that she looked forward to with Inuyasha.

Kagome smiled brightly at Inuyasha, and he crossed his arms and turned his back to her with a "keh."

"Damn it, woman, go to fucking sleep," he ordered once more, after he peered discreetly over his shoulder, her eyes still trained on his, with what she knew was a dopey grin fixed to her lips. Inuyasha quickly turned his head away again when her smile didn't falter at the intentionally foul language but instead had grown even wider. "Idiot."

Rotating the rest of her body to lay on her uninjured side and face him, Kagome nestled into her sleeping bag and obediently shut her eyes. With her stupid, stray thoughts banished into the nothingness in which they _rightfully_ belonged and her nerves eased again, a feeling of warmth spread over her that had nothing to do with embarrassment, the campfire, or a potential fever, and she felt the heavy pull of slumber.

She was about to slip into unconsciousness when she felt a warm, familiar youki getting closer and heard Inuyasha's hakama brush against the material of her sleeping bag. Instead of continuing past her and into the surrounding woods to catch breakfast, he sat down next to her. A moment later, a hand softly patted her legs a few times and then its weight settled on the edge of her bag, not touching her, but close enough for her to feel it along with the rest of Inuyasha's comforting, nearby presence.

Kagome couldn't help but smile again as she succumbed to sleep. She knew she was safe with her hanyou sitting by her side and watching over her. Inuyasha was above and beyond what any guard dog, youkai, or samurai could ever be - he was her best friend.

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